Gerd Schüler turns 85: The full-throttle life of the racing driver and disco owner

Who didn’t know the discos ‘Cockpit’ in Mannheim, ‘Grand Prix’ in Ludwigshafen, ‘Perkins Park’ in Stuttgart or the exclusive party venue ‘Dorian Gray’ in the basement of Frankfurt Airport back then?

And which fan didn’t admire the racer Gerd Schüler back then, driving his Alfa GTA or the works Escort TC on hill climbs and circuit races?

Gerd Schüler was part of that famous Mannheim racing clique of the 1960s, who turned the legendary Eberbach hill climb and the HMSTC season finale at Hockenheim into their annual racing event.

The duels that Schüler fought out with his fellow Alfa drivers and rivals remain unforgettable. That was also the time when he met his wife Tamara – today, the two are still together and have already celebrated their golden wedding anniversary.

Schüler im Hähn-GTA vs. Michel Weber im Fox-GTA, Flugplatzrennen Trier 1966

Foto: Seufert

Schüler’s Alfa Giulia Super TI was tuned by the young apprentice car mechanic Jochen Mass, whilst his team boss was the racing-enthusiast Alfa dealer from Mannheim, Helmut Hähn. “It was an absolutely brilliant time back then,” Schüler still enthuses today, “I enjoyed every single day.”

Over the years, Schüler, who started out as a hillclimb specialist, went on to become one of Germany’s most versatile and successful racing drivers. Particularly noteworthy are his hillclimb title in 1965 in the Alfa (level on points with Heinz Liedl in the Steyr-Puch) and his ten victories from ten starts as a Ford works driver in the 1969 Hillclimb Championship.

Incidentally, in 1969, Schüler and Dieter Glemser also formed the first works driver duo for the newly established Ford racing department in Cologne under sporting director Jochen Neerpasch. Without exception, both drivers won every race they entered – hill climbs (Schüler) and circuit races (Glemser).

10 Starts, 10 Siege: Schüler im Werks-Escort TC 1969 mit makelloser Bilanz

Foto: Ford Motorsport

Schüler describes his second-place finish in the Porsche 908 at the 1972 1,000 km World Sportscar Championship race at Monza, alongside Reinhold Joest, as one of his greatest highlights on the circuit. “In the pouring rain, we had a fantastic duel with the Ferrari 312 PB driven by Ickx and Regazzoni.”

Monza of all places – where, just four years earlier, Schüler, as an Alfa works driver in a European Touring Car Championship race, had narrowly escaped disaster. Following a hair-raising crash, he was pulled from the completely wrecked Delta-GTA with two fractured vertebrae and a broken leg. “I was incredibly lucky not to have ended up paralysed from the waist down in a wheelchair.”

Whether it was the Abarth TC, the Alfa Giulia and GTA, Ford Escort RS, Opel Kadett or Commodore, Porsche Carrera 6 and 908, or, to round it all off, the Lola Formula Super VW in his mate Günther Schmid’s ATS racing team – looking back, Schüler formed a bond with each of his numerous competition cars and racked up successes.

Following his motorsport career from 1962 to 1974, Gerd Schüler immediately embarked on two new careers – as a disco owner and a major restaurateur. Together with his business partner Michael Presinger, the pair ran up to 50 discos and restaurants at the same time. “Over the course of several decades, we actually ran over 100 businesses,” recalls Schüler.

But where there is light, there is also shadow. “Unfortunately, we also made business mistakes and paid dearly for them,” says Schüler in his self-critical retrospective. At least with the upmarket venue and disco “Dorian Gray” at Frankfurt Airport, he got absolutely everything right.

The nationally renowned and popular large-scale disco, with a capacity of around 2,000 guests, became a regular haunt for the jet set and celebrities from the worlds of show business, sport and business.

The Formula 1 parties held at the Gray from 1979 until the end of the 1980s remain fondly remembered to this day; almost all the F1 drivers would turn up there every Thursday ahead of the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim.

“Bernie Ecclestone himself had even issued a sort of collective marching order following a preliminary inspection of the venue for the F1 party,” says Schüler. He is particularly proud of the fact that he did not have to pay “a single pfennig in appearance fees” for the regular attendance of the F1 superstars.

“Regrettably, however, we had to close this goldmine on 31 December 2000 after 22 years, because the new fire safety regulations were no longer feasible from a structural point of view,” explains the former owner, not without a touch of wistfulness in his voice.

“Just thinking today about how Europe’s most famous DJs played at the Gray, how there were wild light and laser shows, and how superstars like Grace Jones, Roger Moore, Stevie Wonder and Bianca Jagger often popped in to see us, makes me feel downright sentimental.”

Those were truly wonderful years that we and our guests experienced at the Gray. Today, at Frankfurt Airport, the ‘Dorian Lounge Airport Club’ is at least a reminder of the legendary Dorian Gray.

And, of course, Schüler has recorded all his memories and experiences from that time, as well as from his early racing years, in his recently published biography. Title: ‘A Life on the Edge’. The book runs to 400 pages and features more than 1,000 photographs.

The first print run has already sold out, and a modest number of copies are currently being reprinted. As the book, with its extra goodies, isn’t exactly cheap, the author is donating a portion of the proceeds to charity.

In fact, Gerd Schüler has always been keen to support charitable causes. “I’ve been blessed with a bloody good life, so I want people – and especially children – whose lives haven’t turned out quite so well to benefit from my success.”

The birthday boy now lives in Neu-Isenburg, Hesse, very close to Frankfurt. He’s still in great shape and is currently working on a new project focused on reviving the ‘Frankfurt Gold Chamber’. He wants to turn it into an exclusive private club with a museum and a charitable focus.

Dear Gerd, we’ve known each other since those days when you first conquered the mountains in your Alfa Giulia TI and GTA. That was over 60 years ago now. At the end of our long conversation for this Speedweek feature, you said, ‘I’m a happy man and completely at peace with myself’. I believe you wholeheartedly.

Congratulations, and keep on going strong in your familiar celebrity circles. If health and luck are on your side, you might even make it to your 90th. I’d then be happy to write your birthday story again, featuring new exploits from your exciting celebrity life. See if it works out.